Forty years ago, a fleet of trucks left New York City and began a journey West toward Milwaukee. On board 16 semi-trailers was a precious cargo of books, charts, photos and extremely rare maps — some of them dating back to the 1400s. It was the collection of the American Geographical Society, which was moving from Manhattan. The destination? The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
On this edition of UWM Today, we take a fresh look at one of the greatest collections of maps in the world and learn how they ended up finding a home at UWM. Our guests are Marcy Bidney, assistant director of UWM Libraries and curator of the American Geographical Society Library, and Susan Peschel, senior librarian at UWM who spends her days working with the amazing collection.
